MVCC student from Lebanon speaks of terror groups in homeland

Thursday

Ali Shour said in Lebanon it's more common for young people to join terrorist groups like ISIS than get an education.

Ali Shour said in Lebanon it’s more common for young people to join terrorist groups like ISIS than get an education.

“Families can’t afford for their children to go to universities,” said Shour, 18, a Lebanon native who attends Mohawk Valley Community College. “ISIS pays them $100 a week and it’s good for them to eat, drink and kill people. Nothing else. They don’t have any other choice.”

Shour wants to change that.

He’s been studying at MVCC on scholarship through Saving the Next Generation this year.

SNG is a non-profit organization that works to eliminate extremism by providing Middle Eastern youth from all religions and cultural backgrounds with education and various life-enriching opportunities.

The organization launched its U.S College Scholarship program, which awarded scholarships to two “highly talented students”— Shour and Abbas Kazan, 18 — from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds through a broad based scholarship competition.

John Zogby, a SNG board membe, who is of Lebanese heritage, said he’s very concerned about the politics and future of Lebanon.

“I grew up during the Cold War,” Zogby said. “The nuns always taught us that communism grows in a garbage pail. Essentially, it’s the same today.”

He said there are “very nice children” whose futures become limited and trouble because they grow up in a community of radical groups.

This program provides an “antidote,” offering students the opportunity to meet other people, to reduce hate and stereotypes and to earn an education.

Shour said when he first told his family he wanted to come to America, they were very discouraging.

“People told me don’t go to America, it’s evil, it’s a very bad place to study, it’s a bad country,” Shour said. “When I got here, it was very different. People here are so helpful, everyone helps me and my friends are awesome.”

Zogby said he hopes the students — who have expressed plans of changing the perspectives of their people — take what they learn back to Lebanon.

“I hope they become missionaries,” Zogby said. “That they spread the word, that they help to recruit more people and they’re able to build a network.”

The program plans to expand in 2015, bringing more students to the U.S. to study.

Follow @OD_Scott on Twitter or call her at 792-4956.

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